


look not mournfully into the past

by flipflop_diva



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dudley Dursley Has a Magical Child, Family, Gen, Post-Canon, Redeemed Dudley Dursley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23350234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: When Dudley doesn't know what to do, he calls on the one person he knows who can help — no matter what might have happened in the past.
Relationships: Dudley Dursley & Harry Potter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 263
Collections: It's All in the Name (Take #1)





	look not mournfully into the past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reeby10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/gifts).



He dialed the number, scrawled on the back of an envelope, with shaky hands and his heart feeling like it was about to come out of his throat. Dudley wasn’t even entirely sure the number Harry had given him a couple years back was the right one. He wouldn’t blame him if it wasn’t. He had often thought if he was Harry, he would have walked away years ago and never looked back.

But after two rings, there was a click on the other end and then a very familiar voice.

“Hullo?”

“Harry, hi, it’s Dudley.” He paused, shame for every sin of the past coloring his cheeks, regret pouring through him that it had come to his, but he had no choice. There was no one else he could ask. “I need your help.”

\--

Harry bent down in front of the little girl. With her shimmery red hair and her big blue eyes, she looked more like the photos of Dudley’s Aunt Lily than Harry ever had. Right now, she was smiling at the unfamiliar man, cooing softly, and waving her hands around.

One of her dolls, the one with the black hair that she loved so much, was flying around in the air.

Dudley looked at his cousin helplessly.

Harry looked up from the little girl and met his eyes. “It’s just magic,” he said quietly. “It’s not a curse.”

“No,” Dudley said. He knew that now. It had taken a long time — years away from his parents to understand how their views had affected him, how his mother’s past with her sister had affected her — but he did finally understand. “It’s a blessing. _She’s_ a blessing. But I don’t know …”

“You don’t have to do anything different,” Harry said. “Just be her dad.”

“What if I can’t?” Dudley shook his head. “I didn’t really have the best example, as you know.” Once again, he felt regret pour through him, and he had to look away. But Harry kept standing beside him.

“Maybe not,” Harry said. “But you called me. That has to count for something, right?”

“You came,” Dudley said. “That counts for a lot.”

“Yeah, well …” Harry’s eyes flickered back to the little girl. “We’re family.”

“Yeah,” Dudley said, because he understood that now. “We are.”


End file.
